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A way to make New Mexico disappear nationally

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© 2009 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. There was an interesting debate and vote in the New Mexico House of Representatives this week. Lawmakers approved House Bill 383, a proposal that would effectively eliminate the Electoral College without actually doing so constitutionally. We are close to being a nation without a constitution and some people think that is fine. I can see both sides of the argument on the Electoral College, and my tendency is to leave things the way they have been and suffer the consequences. The “one person equals all others” argument is valid; the only sticking point is that small states like New Mexico disappear if there is no Electoral College. Continue Reading

Agencies want to reduce access to public records

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Some executive offices want to turn bill designed to increase access to public records into one that creates new ways to deny access Call it a classic win-win situation… just not for the public. What do you do if you head a state agency and a lawmaker is proposing shortening the length of time you have to respond to requests for public records and other changes to the Inspection of Public Records Act that would make your job a little more inconvenient? Propose a bunch of changes to the bill that would create a host of new justifications for denying access to records maintained by your office. If the bill passes, you win by getting new ways to deny access to records. If the bill dies because what you’re proposing will be viewed by many as egregious, you win because you killed a bill that would have, in its original version, placed tougher restrictions on your agency. Continue Reading

Kintigh exploring possibility of webcasting

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State Rep. Dennis Kintigh says he’s interested in joining Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones in webcasting audio and video live from House committee meetings, but he’s not quite ready to commit to doing it. Kintigh, a Republican from Roswell, says he has asked for some help with getting equipped to webcast and needs some training on how to do it. He’s also hoping it won’t be too distracting from his committee work. “The engineer in me wants to test it out before I move forward or commit to doing this,” Kintigh said. “Also, I have not discussed this with the committee chairs, so I’m not sure if it will be permitted.” On Wednesday, the Santa Fe Reporter reported that Kintigh and Candy Spence Ezzell, another Roswell Republican, might start webcasting, and that the tech guy who helped Arnold-Jones start the legislative webcasting revolution in Santa Fe had already equipped laptops for both. Continue Reading

Transparency? We don’t need transparency…

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The legislative committee that crafts the budget shelved a bill last night that would open conference committees to the public because most of its members don’t like that it would also shine light on their own closed-door meetings. Would you believe that the House Appropriations and Finance Committee actually had the gall on Wednesday to table a bill that would open legislative conference committees and some other currently closed-door meetings to the public? That even in these times, when the Richardson administration is dogged by pay-to-play allegations, when the former Senate president has admitted to using the legislative process to help steal millions of dollars in taxpayer money, when scandal after scandal after scandal is further jading an already skeptical public, the majority of members of the committee voted to shelve a proposal that would increase transparency and public confidence in the Legislature? I didn’t believe it when I first heard it. After all, the committee’s members gave the same proposal a do-pass recommendation on a vote of 18-0 the last time it came before them, in 2007. Continue Reading

Meyners + Co. is successful because we’re good

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By Georgie Ortiz and Janet Pacheco-Morton In the spirit of high journalistic standards and following recent coverage referencing Meyners + Company’s entry into the realm of state government auditing for large agencies (see this Feb. 4 New Mexico Independent article), we would like to convey some of what we see as the rest of the story. We feel particularly expert on the subject, since it is we who are in large part at the real heart of Meyners + Company’s government auditing success since joining Meyners in 2004. The New Mexico Office of the State Auditor is responsible for auditing all state and local government agencies. Because of limited resources, the state auditor often contracts out the auditing function to nearly 60 different independent public accountants (IPAs). Continue Reading

The Senate passes… an ethics reform bill!

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The Senate approved this afternoon a bill that would allow a judge to fine an elected official convicted of corruption related to his or her office. On a vote of 29-12, senators sent Senate Bill 141, sponsored by Minority Whip William Payne, R-Albuquerque, to the House for consideration. It’s the most visible piece of ethics reform approved so far this year by the Senate. Under the bill, a judge could impose a fine when an elected official commits a felony connected to his position. The fine could be no greater than the elected official’s salary and benefits, and would be an additional penalty on top of the standard sentence the official receives. Continue Reading

Creating a responsible budget

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By Tom TaylorOn behalf of the House Republican caucus New Mexico’s state government is experiencing its most difficult budget challenge in recent memory. While the economic slowdown is playing a role, New Mexicans should also be aware that current budget problems have been made worse by the 54-percent increase in government spending and the 27-percent increase (5,700) in new government employees that have occurred during the six years of the Richardson administration. With these increases in spending and personnel, every state resident should be asking why the quality and performance of state services have not improved by 54 percent. In other words, taxpayers should be wondering what these billions of dollars in additional state spending bought. We legislators must now face the problem of balancing revenues with expenditures. Continue Reading

Once again, committee skips ethics reform

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But Senate Rules Chair Linda Lopez says bills will be voted on in the coming days This article has been updated.For nearly two weeks, the New Mexico Independent webcast ethics hearings from the Senate Rules Committee — some of them with the help of Mark Bralley — and substantive ethics reform discussions took place each time. But on Monday, NMI was unable to do it. Without a camera in the room, no ethics reform was discussed. NMI was back today. KUNM’s Jim Williams was also present and recording the meeting. Continue Reading

Report: More GOP legislators to start webcasting

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It appears that House Republicans are getting ready to expand their audio and video webcasting of committee meetings. Reps. Candy Spence Ezzell and Dennis Kintigh of Roswell may be preparing to join “Lady Sunlight,” Janice Arnold-Jones of Albuquerque, in webcasting their committee meetings, according to the Santa Fe Reporter. The newspaper’s blog posting quotes Howard DeLaCruz-Bancroft, the tech guy helping Arnold-Jones webcast her meetings, as saying he’s already prepped laptops with webcasting equipment for Ezzell and Kintigh. Ezzell sits on the House Energy and Natural Resources and Labor and Human Resources committees, and Kintigh sits on the Health and Government Affairs and Judiciary committees. Continue Reading

Bill would give legal force to e-mail records requests

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A bill that would require government agencies in New Mexico to accept requests for public records via e-mail and fax cleared its first hurdle on Tuesday. House Bill 598, sponsored by Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, was given a do-pass recommendation by the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee on a vote of 6-1, with only Rep. Zachary Cook, R-Ruidoso, voting against it. “The citizens in our state should have ready access to government documents without artificial barriers,” Cervantes said following Tuesday’s vote. “E-mail is an integral and accepted means of communication, and no less so than a mailed letter or postcard.” Cervantes’ bill comes in response to New Mexico State University’s assertion in 2007 that records requests I filed weren’t valid because they were sent via e-mail. The attorney general considered the issue and said that, though his office and the vast majority of state agencies treat e-mail requests as valid, state law doesn’t explicitly require that they be treated as valid. Continue Reading

Independent plans webcasting, liveblogging

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The New Mexico Independent will once again webcast live from the meeting of the Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday morning as the committee is scheduled to take up a number of ethics-reform proposals. The news outlet will also host a live blog on its Web site in which anyone can take part. Click here to join in. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. In addition, sometime this week the Senate is going to debate and vote on the controversial domestic partner benefits bill. The Independent and the Santa Fe Reporter plan to jointly host a live blog during that debate, and anyone can participate. Continue Reading

Conference committee bill moves through House

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The annual battle in the Senate to open legislative conference committees to the public hasn’t yet begun, but the proposal is making its way through the House. House Bill 393, sponsored by Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, has already received a do-pass recommendation from the House Judiciary Committee — of which Cervantes is vice chair — on a vote of 12-0. It’s scheduled to be considered Wednesday by the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, where it passed on a vote of 18-0 the last time it was considered, in 2007. Assuming the Appropriations and Finance Committee OKs it, the bill would then go to the full House for a vote. The last time the House voted on the conference-committee bill, in 2007, it passed 53-5. Continue Reading

From Bacchus to governor?

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The god of wine? That’s Val Kilmer’s current project as King of Bacchus for the Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans. See for yourself: Now ponder this question: Can you really picture this guy in a suit and tie giving a State of the State Address to the New Mexico Legislature? Following in the footsteps of King Bill, maybe it isn’t such a stretch to imagine… Continue Reading